What is the best longan?

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I have been eating chompoo,biew kiew and kohala this week and have some experience in eating longans.I have consistently found biew kiew to be larger,fleshier and have a better taste than the other leading varieties.It is also the latest fruiting and farmers in this neck of the woods often ask for a higher price for biew kiews

Good to hear Mike!
some one I know just got a BQ based upon my recommendation..that Kohala is just not good enough for the discriminating fruit collector. 

She shampoo would have been a great option as well. 

I can find kohalas all over...and Im burnt out on them kind of.

[Cookie Monster]

Not sure about lychee -- you could be right about that. Mango, mamey sapote, canistel, etc grow taproots really fast and will easily hit the bottom of a 1gallon container in a month or two.

Within a month or two of sprouting? Lychee doesn't grow so fast as you think. That amount of time in a pot would be no problem at all for the tap root.

[Cookie Monster]

Kohala season is mixed with mango season, which means kohala would likely get eaten by the birds and possums in my yard :-)

I planted a biew kiew because it's later (and sweeter).

I have been eating chompoo,biew kiew and kohala this week and have some experience in eating longans.I have consistently found biew kiew to be larger,fleshier and have a better taste than the other leading varieties.It is also the latest fruiting and farmers in this neck of the woods often ask for a higher price for biew kiews

Good to hear Mike!
some one I know just got a BQ based upon my recommendation..that Kohala is just not good enough for the discriminating fruit collector. 

She shampoo would have been a great option as well. 

I can find kohalas all over...and Im burnt out on them kind of.

[fruitlovers]

Sri chompoo is a good cultivar, but here it does not bear as heavily as Biew Kiew. Here Biew Kiew is also the top selling commercial variety. Kohala is only fit for the chain saw as it bears here, if you're lucky, 1 out of 10 years. Also it gets monstrously large.

[skhan]

Didn't want to make a new thread for this.

So I "found" a spot in my front yard. Southwest side.  I'm considering putting a tree there and I've basically giving up on lychee. The spot is 15 ft away from a mango and 15ft away from a Jackfruit. I plan on keeping both on check with pruning. Do you think this will be enough space for a biew kiew or chompoo.

[simon_grow]

With pruning, that should be enough space. I believe Sri Chompoo is the smaller of the two varieties you listed. I have a young Kohala that I keep small with annual pruning and it has fruited the last three years since I planted it. Careful planing in regards to pruning of scaffold branches can keep fruit within easy reach.

Simon

[gunnar429]

Adam, what ever happened with your fortune eye longans?

[WGphil]

The Fortune Eye is the best I tasted this past season.  It is also the smallest with a big seed.   The flavor is different and sweet and the best by far Imo of the types I have tried.  Only one I ate like peanuts, had to stop myself.   

Problem is there are only five trees that I know about in the hands of two people.   Going to do my best to get some more this year.  Try to get you a few if I can. 

Not sure what Adam has but I would like a tree myself.   

[gunnar429]

The Fortune Eye is the best I tasted this past season.  It is also the smallest with a big seed.   The flavor is different and sweet and the best by far Imo of the types I have tried.  Only one I ate like peanuts, had to stop myself.   

Problem is there are only five trees that I know about in the hands of two people.   Going to do my best to get some more this year.  Try to get you a few if I can. 

Not sure what Adam has but I would like a tree myself.

WGPhil, see if you can get some airlayers or budwood

[bsbullie]

Culling the fruit, which is commonly done, will help to increase the size.  Harry may have a Fortune Eye however if he does, not sure if accessing the tree is possible.

[bsbullie]

Does anyone know if Fortune Eye and Tiger Eye are one in the same?

[WGphil]

I haven't tried the Tiger eye that I know of.    But have had enough fortune eyes to know they are the smallest fruit of the longans we had last season   Very big seed to boot   Flavor is different than the other as well, each of the others tasted similar to me but the FE is just a bit different.  It is the best tasting of the ones I have tried. 

The tree was the last of the longans to ripen also.   

[bsbullie]

I haven't tried the Tiger eye that I know of.    But have had enough fortune eyes to know they are the smallest fruit of the longans we had last season   Very big seed to boot   Flavor is different than the other as well, each of the others tasted similar to me but the FE is just a bit different.  It is the best tasting of the ones I have tried. 

The tree was the last of the longans to ripen also.

If you don't cull Kohalas they stay small with low flesh to seed ration.  When they are culled, they can double in size, while it gives you less in number but better flesh to seed/skin ratio and flavor seems to improve.

[WGphil]

The FE's are pretty uniform in size.   Seed may be close to standard size and just the smaller fruit makes it look bigger.  Didn't think to compare seed size with each other. 

Same grower had Kohala's for sale and they were much bigger.   His Biew Kiews followed the Lychee and were first of the Longan season for him if I remember correctly.    They were in between the FE and Kohala in size.   Like them better than the Kohala.   Like the FE more than the Bk's.

[snowjunky]

Does anyone know if Fortune Eye and Tiger Eye are one in the same?

Fortune Eye and Tiger Eye are both pronounced the same way in Mandarin Chinese, but different when written.
I suspect they are the same and that Fortune Eye is the correct name since it's from Fujian Province. The "Fu" in Fujian means fortune, not tiger.
Tiger Eye is probably an unfortunate mistake by someone who can't read Chinese.  Pun intended.